Remy Cabella

Newcastle have been heavily linked with Montpellier star Remy Cabella since the summer, and the departure of Yohan Cabaye to PSG will have freed up enough funds for the Magpies to make a formal offer for the Ligue 1 star.

The 23 year-old, who has rocked the French top flight this season with six goals and three assists in 20 league starts, would also replace the Paris-bound midfielder’s creative influence in the middle of the park, being a natural fit for the No.10 role.

The former France U21, who won the Ligue 1 title with La Paillade in 2012, has been progressing through the Montpellier ranks since 2009, but appears to be amid a real coming of age campaign that’s seen him average 2 tackles, 2.5 shots, 2.2 key passes and 1.4 successful dribbles per match.

MHSC are clearly reluctant to sell – back in October, they lumped Cabella with an outrageous £100million price-tag following news that he had taken Manchester United’s transfer fancy, and earlier this week owner Louis Nicollin urged the 5 foot 8 midfielder not to relocate to Tyneside, stating he’d be ‘bored s***less in Newcastle’.

But Cabella has regularly remarked that he would be interested in a Premier League switch, and the tabloids have frequently alleged that the St. James’ Park outfit have a £12million bid in the pipeline since the January window opened.

Now that the Magpies look set to miss out on Lyon’s highly-rated Clement Grenier, a bid for his Montpellier counterpart could be imminent.